freedom of choice = abortion donuts?

recipient:

Radar Magazine/ Subscription Dept/ PO Box 21942/ Palm Coast, FL 32142-7557

sent:

Miami The New Times blog: Pro-Life Group up in Arms over Krispy Kreme abortion doughnuts

reasoning:

should have posted this awhile ago, sometime around inauguration day may be more fitting. but it’s still an interesting story now. working at the Abortion Care Network, and doing more research on the reproductive justice movement, it almost seems like it’s a divisive and moot battle. yeah, that’s a pessimisticviewpoint from one who’s fighting for reproductive rights -> many critics and pro-lifers are even incredulous of the concept. without both sides on the same page, and with the religious morality ties muddying up the discourse, i find it difficult to see where a consensus on the issue can be made. with that said, and knowing that i stand strongly on the progressive side, lately the pro-life side seems to be grasping at straws. freedom of choice = abortion donuts? The American Life League’s press release that choice is synonymous with abortion is a huge stretch. perhaps not the best choice of words, maybe Krispy Kreme could have said celebrating ‘democracy’ or ‘freedom’ or ‘america’. they gave out free donuts to those who wore “i voted” stickers on election day, so continuing the giveaway makes sense. i can’t find anything about the political leaning of the Krispy Kreme board or president, maybe it’s not that they’re so much pro-Obama, as just an American/pro-America company?  though i guess i couldn’t see Match.com doing any similar online promotion election or inauguration day. nonetheless, it’s always fascinating to me the ties between contemporary culture and social movement discourse.

tigercity @ DC9

recipient:

The Chronicle of Philanthropy/PO Box 48/ Boulder, CO 80329-9954

sent:

DC9 business card, along with Daytrotter Tigercity: Damn Right There Are Claws – Dancing Claws article

reasoning:

i was bummed all week over a stupid boy, lack of money, and lack of job issues, but DDW had come into town, and when he suggested a tex-mex for dinner, i knew things would be good. we started off happy hour at Solly’s and then DC9 – a place i’ve taken a fierce liking to lately – dance parties, good bar food, chill lighting & decor, schlitz in a can, plus lots of open bars offering Sparks or redbull vodkas. while we were sitting drinking our Magic Hat #9s, Tigercity’s van pulled up around 6 and they started unloading their equipment. whee! so excited, but of course i just played it cool drinking my beer and talking to the 2 guys at the bar who were going to the 9:30 club for jimmy eat world. J.E.W. makes me happily reminisce about jr high, but this night – these guys were paying much more money to go to the wrong place to see the wrong band.

poor but sexy started off the night, local DC band with a keyboard, synthesizer and adorable lead singer who robot dances across the stage. i was standing next to the stairs to the left of the stage, and tigercity had a booth right behind me, so everytime one of the band members needed to get back to their seat, they had to walk by me. i was definitely the short little asian girl standing in the way, but i was also the one who ‘accidentally’ got to bump into each of them. yes, tigercity makes me a little giddy groupie, are they that big of rockstars yet? they are in my heart.  you can probably tell that the rest of this show review isn’t going to turn critical, or disgruntled, the tigercity lovefest is going to continue.

DCist Exposed

recipient:

Metropolitan Home/ PO Box 51890/ Boulder, CO 80323-1890

sent:

DCist Exposed postcard

reasoning:

tonight was the opening reception for DCist EXPOSED photography show. there was a constant line around the block outside of the Flashpoint gallery in Chinatown, and it was packed inside all night. 45 images were chosen from local photographers for their visions in showing a unique perspective of DC to fellow DCers. there wasn’t much chance of taking your time to look at each shot, it was more look, read the title, tilt your head for a second and get pushed to the next photograph. DJ TEN was spinning, and they were giving out free redbull and glasses of wine, pretty sweet. except for the groups of people who decided to stand in a circle right in front of the photographs just to drink their wine and talk ‘art’. do that at a different art exhibition opening where it isn’t shoulder to shoulder packed with people and free. there were some striking shots, some ‘untitled’, and others of famous DC monuments and events but a more intense or focused spin on them. going to shows like this, and seeing familiar faces or names around has started to make me feel like a DC-er, more than i was ever a Northampton-er. it felt like a huge bonding experience b/w everyone in the gallery as to guessing where a shot was taken, or where we were when we heard about the fire in Mt. Pleasant. while i can’t speak from the perspective of a native, DCist Exposed was illuminatingly comforting in that it showed the city from the eyes of locals have found a beauty and a calm in not just the everyday life, but what makes this place great to the ‘not-tourists’ that actually live here. check out the rest of the winners here.

image of ‘mass baptism’ shot by andyharnik, who also had ‘kiss‘ in the show, too.

how to heal a broken heart

recipient:

Naral/Pro-Choice America Foundation/ 1156 15th Street, NW, Suite 700/ Washington, DC 20005

sent:

WikiHow’s How to Cope with a Heartbreak

reasoning:

for the rest of us who are feeling the complete opposite of lovey-dovey, and fully bitter against the whole holiday, for reasons that love may have hurt us recently. and we just don’t want to admit it. if anything i’m sure we’d wish we had taken advice from How to Remain Emotionally Unattached before “it” happened.

yes means yes: visions of female sexual power & a world without rape

recipient:

National Geographic Society/ PO Box 64112/ Tampa, FL 3366-4112

sent:

Google Books preview of Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power & A World Without Rape

reasoning:

tonight in the crowded backroom of busboys & poets on 14th & U, the editors and several contributors for the new book yes means yes: visions of female sexual power & a world without rape read excerpts of their new work. Miriam Zoila Perez of Radical Doula read from her “When Sexual Autonomy Isn’t Enough:SexualViolence Against Immigrant Women in the United States”.  Latoya Peterson of Racialicious read “The Not-Rape Epidemic”. and among others, Jaclyn Friedman “In Defense of Going Wild or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Pleasure (and How You Can, Too). it was inspiring to hear from writers so coherently and intelligently talk about this powerful conception of rape culture. there’s so many intersecting points of gender, race, sexuality, media, and class that have created this complex culture.  particularly thought-provoking was Miriam Perez’s piece that for immigrant women crossing the border, rape is almost an accepted part of their reality (their price of admission to pay the smugglers). after listening to their readings, i was convinced that a rape culture does exist. it’s a serious crime, and treated as so, but then on the other side, it’s also blamed on the victim, there’s the conception that it only happens to women, and that it’s something that will always exist. these women all talked about getting rid of the culture of rape – not just the action of it but the connotations and dangers surrounding it. this has moved up to the top of my ‘must-buy’ book list once i have the funds to do so.